Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 6,888 Shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA - Free Report) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 880,663 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 6,888 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.36% of HCA Healthcare worth $304,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HCA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of HCA Healthcare in the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,286,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 40,527.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,703,907 shares of the company's stock worth $5,887,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,699,713 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 62.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,500,786 shares of the company's stock worth $450,461,000 after purchasing an additional 574,239 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 85.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,061,891 shares of the company's stock worth $318,727,000 after purchasing an additional 489,916 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its position in shares of HCA Healthcare by 12,016.0% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 467,437 shares of the company's stock worth $140,301,000 after purchasing an additional 463,579 shares during the period. 62.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HCA Healthcare news, COO Jon M. Foster sold 15,698 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.32, for a total transaction of $5,797,585.36. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,670,420.72. This trade represents a 55.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of HCA Healthcare to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Barclays set a $416.00 target price on shares of HCA Healthcare and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $336.00 target price (down previously from $396.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $404.00 price target (up previously from $376.00) on shares of HCA Healthcare in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of HCA Healthcare from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $395.71.

HCA Healthcare Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of HCA Healthcare stock traded down $5.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $372.84. The stock had a trading volume of 943,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,463,446. The stock has a market cap of $89.69 billion, a PE ratio of 16.58, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.47. HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.98 and a 12 month high of $417.14. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $371.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 69.07, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $6.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.75 by $0.70. The company had revenue of $18.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.26 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 1,063.91%. The firm's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HCA Healthcare, Inc. will post 24.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HCA Healthcare Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. HCA Healthcare's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.81%.

About HCA Healthcare

HCA Healthcare, Inc, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates hospitals and related healthcare entities in the United States. It operates general and acute care hospitals that offers medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy.